Means for cleaning air filters



June 13, 1933.

A. JORDAHL MEANS FOR CLEANING AI R FILTERS Filed June 17, 1926 win 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Jim em Jkrz/M! l5 ATTORNEY June 13, 1933.

A. JORDAHL MEANS FOR CLEANING AIR FILTERS Fild Julie 1'? 192a 11 .20 6 Er=i v a1 9 3 7 HF ai:i==:::: Z 23 A B 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR Patented June 13, 1933 UNITED STATES,

PAT NT OFFICE I ANDEI B ISJOBDAHL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN AIR FILTER COM- PA NY, ING, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE MEANS FOR CLEANING AIR FILTERS Application filed June 17,

It IS another object of the invention to provide an apparatus of this character wherein the air filter cells are vertically arranged in the air passage or conduit, said cells being open at the top and bottom whereby the water or other cleaning fluid may flow by gravity downwardly through the filtering medium. This arrangement also enables my invention to be used as an air washer particularly adapted for cooling of the air in the summer months and removing dust therefrom, the water or other cleaning fluid flowing continuously through the filtering medium during operation of the filter, and thereby serving to keep the surfaces of the filtering medium continuously wet and maintaining the same at maximum efiiciency for the purpose of catching and retaining the dust particles.

It is another object of the invention to provide a simple and novel mounting and 'sup-' porting means for the vertically arranged filter cells which may' be manufactured at relatively small cost, and wherein means is provided for enabling the individual filter cells to be easily removed and replaced in position, said means also embodying suitable provisions for the supply of the cleaning fluid to the upper end of the filter cell and the collection and drainage of the dirty fluid therefrom.

In certain cases, I also propose to subject the filter medium to a soa 'ng action of the cleaning liquid. I find this to be necessary in those cases where the dust and other foreign matter is of a peculiar tenacious caking nature.

I may also provide the individual filter 1 92c. seam No. 116,550.

being cleaned to prevent the passage of air through the cell.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the improved means for cleaning andcharging air filters, and in the form, construction and relative arrangement of its several parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and subsequently incorporated in the subjoinedclaims.

- In the drawings, wherein I have disclosed a simple and practical embodiment of the mechanical features of my present improvements, and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is. a vertical sectional view of a filter apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section showing a slightly modified arrangement;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the removable shutter plate applied to the opposite side of the filter cell,.and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view illustrating a modified construction of the apparatus.

The cleaning of air filters in situ has heretofore been proposed, an example thereof being disclosed in Patent No. 1,57 7,703, issued to John H. Fedeler, on March 23, 1926. It is to be observed, however, that this patentee proposes to spray the cleaning fluid under pressure against one side of a horizontally arranged cell containing the filtering medium which is arranged in the air passage and in parallel relation with thegeneral direction of the air flow. It is therefore, necessary to employ inclined deflecting partitions to deflect the air current and direct the same through the filtering medium. This arrangement results in a decrease in efliciency of the filtering medium, and the cleaning action of the water spray will not be uniform over the entire area of the filter cell. Further, the required apparatus in this horizontal arrangement of the filter cells is comparatively costly. These disadvantages, I propose to overcome and to this end, I arrange one or more filter cells in the air passage or conduit and position the cell or cells in a plane which intersects the general line of sir flow through suid pussnge or conduit. l am thus enehled to entirely dispense with the inclined air deflecting end directing plates we the 5 cleaning fluid has n free gravity fiow through the filtering medium contained in the cell so thntthere is practically no resistnnoe to the free passage of the air through the filtering medium. As at cleaning fluid, ll may use W a light oil so that a somewhat viscous film or costing remuins upon the surfaces of the filtering medium and serves as a highly eficient agent for the collection and retention of dust particles.

To the above end, I have illustret/ed n precticel instellution of the filter apparatus in the nccompenying drawings, wherein B in dicctes the hose well or fioor of en sir pessugc or conduit generally indicated at l end "l? indicates the top wall or ceiling of suid conduit.

(Due or more filter cells 5 are positioned in the conduit P, the enerul plane of the filter cell or cells being isposed in angular inter- 25 secting relation to the general line of fiovv' of the uir through said passage or conduit as indicuted hy the arrows A... Preferably, l orrun a plurality of said cells in vertically superposed relntion to. each other, it heing understood that opposite sides of each cell ere open for the -iree pessngc of the air throu. h the filteringmaterinl' contained in the. co l. The particular nature of this filtering materiel constitutes-no essential pert of the present invention, and it may consist of ony one of several sir filtering agents which ere Well t llnown in this art.

Each of the filter cells 5 is rerndvuhly mounted between a rectangular conduit 6 at the top thereof end a rectengulnr gutter 7 ct thelovver end or bottom of, the filter cell.- The top end in walls of etch filter cell sreo 111 its shown at 9 end 10 respectively,

I 2 end t e'hottom Well-of the-conduit 6 is protfi yided with e plurality of openings 11 therein through which the Water or other cleaning fluid y freely flow from snidconduit into the upper end of the cell. This water flowing by gruvity through the filtering medium fill conteined in the cell hes tree egress, ut the bottom of the cell through the opening 10 into the upper open side of the collecting gutter l. I

v The conduit 6 nt the front or inss side 55 of the u x r filter cell 5 has its well hent upon itse to form n dowardly extendin 5|: ll". e front well of each gutter is slerly provided with an n Way extendi fiunge 12 which is tor-me With'un (w wnrdly end/forever ined lip 13, to purposeoi which n: hereinafter appear. The inte -etc conduit 6 which is interpo hetween the lower filter cell 5 end the a.) 7 for the upper filter cell 655 is proyi r. [ct its front side in addition to the pump 18 bovine its intehc connec with n 4 cells.

misses downwnrdly extending 5 u go ll an up wardly exten :u' firings 1t which the front wall of thetterl 1:

Upon the rear well of ouch conduit 6 end each gutter 7 is; plurality of latch mt. 15 are pivotelly engnged eat one of their ends on the bolts it, suitable clumping nuts l? being threaded on these holts wholly snid latch members muy he securely hell with their other ends hecg alum the rcer sides oi the filter cells, thus mninterr o close sir tight contuct of the filter ct their front sides with the finngcs ll, ll end 14-. By loosening the clumping nuts 17, it is elso evident thet these letch members many he swung on the holts it out off connect vthe filter cells so'thut the letter cun he in dependently removed from their prtion in the air conduit. it is off course, elso understood-that e suitehle means is likewise r vided at ouch side well of the nir conulit or pnssuge to provide on sir tight coection between said wells, the filter cells end the conduits 6 end gutter? so that the eir don'- ing through this conduit in the direction of the arrows A can find e passage only l1: (-1- the filter cells 5. e v For the purp of suppl the g: fiuid to the conduit 6, I here ereiu sho o reservoir or oter suituhle' source of fiuid supply, while to the pump outlet the lower endot the pipe 19 is connected, seid piw ltl extending uerticully udjscent one side will of the air passe or conduit P endcoect ed by the branch pipes 20 with the v'erticelly spaced conduits 6 for the respective filter In addition to these brunch at the u per end of eech filter cell nt trout side it ereol transversely positioned nga 21, ere arranged end connected by suites couplings 22 with the pipe 19. Etch of the p p 21 at its lower side is rovidcd with n mu. plicity of longitudine ly speced jet llil therein so that the wateror cleaning fiuid is directed in 's'. series of jet s rnys downwerdlfiy end inwurdly into the rout side of the lter cells and upon the filtering n. contsined therein.

The dirty cleeni fiuid collect u; in the gutters 7 is drained therefrom through the pipes 23 and conducted to o. pipitction rind V clearing tnnk 2% in which n suitehle sewn ate res

liltl "lie or other dirt seperetor is provided for in I moving the form mutter conteined in the lluid. The clear fluid is returned to the pp 18 through the pipe 25. The mein source of fiuid supply may also he connec with-this tenk and after the system has ome ed.

with the fluid such eoection can he old, and the i we -uid repeatedly. passed throu the filter cells. in the siren ement dcscri, any water or cleag fiui dripping down W rdly ct the front side olithe filter cell 56 from the sprey pi 21 n l he collec by i the forwardly inclined li 13 and directed thereby to the gutters 7 be arranged on the clean air si filter.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings, I have shown a slightly modified arrangement wherein instead of roviding rectangular water conduits 6, arrange within housings 6' corresponding in form with said conduits, one or more water spray pipes 26 connected with the main supply pipe 19 through which the imilar li s 13 may e of the water. is sprayed downwardly in a number of1 ljets into the upper open end of the filter ce 1 It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the necessary apparatus for the proper cleaning of the filter cells takes up less space in the air passage or conduit than in the patented method above referred to and that such apparatus will also be less costly to install and maintain. The gutters l, as well as the filter cells can be independently removed from the installation whenever it becomes necessary to give the same a thorough cleaning in order to remove sediment adhering to the walls thereof. lit will further be apparent that owing to the fact that I. position the filter cells in a vertical plane in an angular intersecting relation with the general line of fiow of the air, the air at all times has a free passage through the filtering medium during the cleaning operation. Further, by this vertical arrangement of the cells, the filtering material is more easily and thoroughly cleaned as the liquid will run by gravity through the filtering medium, gradually increasing in momentum as it approaches the collecting gutter. The described construction thus lends itself to the use of water or any other suitable solution as a cleanin fluid. After cleaning of the filtering me ium, the water control valves may be closed 'and a viscous liquid then forced through the water spray pipes or conduits into the filter cells. However, I will in all probability prefer to use the same liquid both for cleaning and providing a viscous floating or-film on the surfaces of the filtering medium, and for this purpose, I have found that a fairly thin oil is desirable. The described construction is also well adapted for. use as an air washer, and provides a simple and efficient means for supplying humidity to the ventilating air as well as removing dust particles from the air. In such case, the water also serves'the purpose of providing the filtering medium with the film serving as a retaining agent for the dust particles.

In the use of such an apparatus in connectionwith central power stations furnishing electric currentday and night and in other similar installations, it is necessary that the filters shall be cleaned without interrupting their continued operation. This is possible I Fig. 2, I

with the use of the present invention in most cases. In other cases, however, it is advis able to shut oil the passage of air through the filter cells which are being cleaned while the remainder of the installation continues to function. For this purpose, I may provide an imperforate sheet metal shutter plate 27. The filter cell frame may be formed with suitable guide flanges indicated at 28 to receive the edges of this shutter plate. In show the shutter plate applied to the clean while in air side of'one of the filter cells,

Further, in certain installations or uses of my invention, the dirt, dust and other foreign matter collecting upon the filtering medium may be of a particularly tenacious caking nature so that it would not be thoroughly removed merely by the flow of the cleaning liquid through the filter cell. In such cases, I employ the form of apparatus illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings, wherein the liquid re: eiving gutter 7 instead of being merely provided with the lip or lips 13, is formed or provided with the upwardly extending walls 29 which incline outwardly or away from the opposite sides of the filter cell from their lower to their upper ends and are connected by end walls 30' with the supporting structure in which the distributing conduit 6 and gutter 7 are mounted. Therefore, itwill be under stood that these walls 29 and 30 together constitute a catch basin or reservoir in which the cleaning liquid may collect or accumulate. In this construction as well as that shown in Fig. 1, the inlet of the cleaning liquid to the distributing reservoir 6 is controlled by suitable valves 31, and therefore, after the catch basin associated with the filter cell is almost filled with the cleaning fluid to its capacity, this valve may be closed, it being understood that the drain or outlet pipe connection with the gutter 7 is also provided with a valve 32 which remains closed until the desired time of soaking of the filtering medie V teined h the use oi? other to of up uretus of n ternetire coruction, end l t -erel'tore, reserve the privilege of udcgpting ell such legitimate chunges us may he uirly embodied witihn the spirit und scope of the invention us claimed.

l cleim:

. 1. ln air filter epperutus, n supportingstructure, stationery filter cells vertically superposed in said supporting structure in intersecting relution to the generul line of flow of the uir, said supporting structure embodying conduits extending over the respective filter cells adopted to receive at cleaning liquid and having outlet openings discharging into the respective filter cells, receiving and discharge utters for the cleaning li uid extending un er the resmctive filter ce ls, e liquid supply and dischnrge system connected with snid conduits and gutters respectively and wolves interposed therein, and means at op posite sides of euch filter cell intercepting t e uir flow therethrough to receive and confine the cleuning liquid when the discharge valve of the cell gutter is closed whereby the cleaning liquid grunlly rises as e submerging hath in which the filtering medium contuined in said cell muy-he subjected to e seeking notion of the clenning liquid.

2. lln comhin ution with u filter cell verticully positioned in an air passage in intersecting relation to the general line of flow of the eir, menus for deliverin a cleaning fluid into the upper end of the cellfor passage through the h tering medium in contact therewith in the plane of seid cell, and liquid confining means extendin upwerdl at each face of said cell from te bottom in spaced reletion to said feces and open at the to to permit of the flow of air to end from sei feces, -end adopted to accumulate the cleuning liquid as e gradually rising suhmerging both.

In testimony that l cluim the forego g w my invention, I[ here ed h name hereto.

' RS QRDAHL.

rennet. 

